Intro:

Czech player Karolina Pliskova upset fourth seed Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the third round of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday (18 February), but top seed Simona Halep advanced to the quarter-finals with victory over Tsvetana Pironkova.

Script:

Wednesday evening's third round action saw Ana Ivanovic take on Karolina Pliskova.

Pliskova came into this third round tie having never lost to Ivanovic and she found an instant break.

The Czech would go on to take the first set 6-2, yet the World No 6 Ivanovic found her rhythm in the second & levelled up the match at 1-all.

Pliskova came back in the decider and found the all important break of serve at 4-all.

She then had two for match points when the Serbian returned long.

Pliskova now faces fellow Czech Lucie Safarova in the quarter-finals.

In the night match World No 4 Simona Halep faced un-seeded Tsvetana Pironkova.

The top seed had trailed 4-2 in her first yet broke back and then at set point on the Bulgarian's serve found this winner.

Halep continued that form into the second, pushing Pironkova deep and took a commanding 4-2 lead.

The Romanian took the match 6-4, 6-3 and will now face the ever improving sixth-seed Ekaterina Makarova in the last eight.